1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to the manufacture of maraschino cherries in a dyeing process using carotenoids. The process renders cherries non-bleeding, and as such they are incapable of leaking colorant into aqueous foodstuffs such as fruit cocktail and fruit salad to which cherries are added.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Maraschino cherries are manufactured from sweet cherries after preparation and bleaching by storage in a strong bisulfite brine. In certain instances cherries may be subjected to secondary bleaching processes with sodium chlorite to remove blemishes. The resulting bleached cherries are leached to remove essentially all of the sulfite prior to coloring with an artificial dye. Conventional maraschino cherries are dyed with FD & C Red No. 40, a water soluble dye that is added to the syrup in which the fruit is packed.
Water soluble pigments in beets (betalaines), cranberries (anthocyanins), and tart cherries (anthocyanins) have been proposed as alternative colorants for this product (U.S. Pat. No. 4,115,595, T. Volpe, Food Product Development 10(9): 13-14 (1976); M. R. McLellan and J. N. Cash, J. Food Sci. 44:483-487 (1979)). Non-bleeding maraschino cherries, used in fruit cocktails and salads where leakage of color into the syrup or juice would be unsightly, are dyed with FD & C Red No. 3 (Erythrocin), applied to the leached fruit as a neutral solution. When the cherries are acidified, the dye precipitates and remains fixed within the fruit tissue so that bleeding cannot occur as long as the cherries are in an acidic medium. Recent action taken by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration against some uses of Red No. 3, a suspected carcinogen, has thrown into question the future use of this dye as a cherry colorant. If Red No. 3, should be banned in cherries, the water soluble alternatives would be of no value as replacement colorants. Only one approved food colorant is being considered by the industry as a replacement for Red No. 3, carmine, the aluminum lake of carminic acid, which is derived from cochineal, the dried body of a female insect (Dactylopius coccus costa) (D. D. Duxbury, Food Processing 51(5): 63-70 (1990)).
This colorant, which is applied to the fruit as an alkaline solution and is fixed in the tissue by pH reduction, is expensive, difficult to apply, may vary in color uniformity, and lacks Kosher certification. Furthermore, the dyed fruit may show variation in color and bleeding under some circumstances.
A Japanese patent calls for the use of boiled pimiento as a substitute for maraschino cherries in fruit jelly where color bleeding would be undesirable (Q. P. Corp., Japan Pat. No. 60,027,346, Feb. 12, 1985). However, an alternative means of producing a non-bleeding maraschino-type cherry product, that is not subject to the disadvantages of carmine, would be highly desirable.